Horses That Won't Drink Strange Water

My mare is a cantankerous middle aged broad (on her bad days and an absolute saint on her good and kind of like her owner...) who was totally turned off by the change in the water from our moving.

For the first two days, she would barely glance at the horse tank and got a bit drawn. I'm not a panicky person when I comes to horses, usually, but it got to a point I was getting a bit concerned. You know the saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"? Well, that's where I felt we were. What was I going to do if she really refused so long that she became severly dehydrated and possibly tied up?

I even flirted with the possibility of lugging filtered water from the house down to the tank. I would if I had to! Anyone have a Brita filter and see how little water actually comes thru? My word, it would have taken 3 days to fill the tank! But no matter, if it's what I had to do, I would do it. Don't want my precious to hurt and sure don't need a vet bill. Tying up is the one thing that I feel/know it's time to call the vet. It's serious stuff.

Fortunately, her brain kicked into gear and she gingerly sampled the water when she got thirsty enough and soon found that she could live with it. Now she is doing finer than frog hair and looking filled out.

My point is, my lambchop is a PITA ('pain in the ass' for those not in the know) and whatever it took, I had to do for her. Doesn't matter that she almost gave me nightmares over tying up, I had to take responsibility to make sure she stayed hydrated. Even if it meant the lugging the water.